Caravaneras Open Their Own Kitchen in Tijuana

Twice a day migrants can stop by a small comedor in Tijuana and eat a warm meal. They can pick up some clothes from the donation center on the rooftop terrace. They can meet people and dance. The kitchen is a lively place full of people talking and music playing. It’s a space to eat, rest, sing and commune.

Inside the dining hall

Women who traveled by caravan to Tijuana in November of 2018 opened the kitchen a few weeks ago. They set up shop just in time for the arrival of thousands more who started their caravan across Central America and Mexico in January of 2019.

The rooftop donation center

We have some more photos of the kitchen and donation center’s progress below. The women who manage the kitchen are fundraising for rent and food stuffs via a Go Fund Me page. In addition to monetary donations, the kitchen is looking for bulk food and cleaning and other small commercial kitchen supplies. If you would like to donate these in-kind donations, please email CaravanaCocina@protonmail.com.

We encourage you to support this important step toward autonomy and resilience for the migrant communities living in Tijuana.

The women who manage the kitchen are among the thousands who walked from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador in a caravan of thousands, many of whom arrived in Tijuana in November 2018. After a journey of thousands of miles, many are stuck in Tijuana, stalled by radical changes in U.S. asylum policy under the Trump administration and waiting on a legal process, which accepted less than 35% of all asylum claims in 2018 and even less of claims by Central Americans.

In the first months after the caravan’s arrival, many people were fed by international volunteers and nonprofits, including one kitchen which made 3,500 meals per day. As of February 2019, most have closed up and left Tijuana, bringing their kitchens and their volunteers back across the border. Another caravan of 12,000+ is already traveling through Mexico, some of whom will come to Tijuana. To respond to this current situation and prepare for this new era of migration, we are investing in kitchen infrastructure to cook for masses of people, directly under the control and collective management of migrants.